Article by Rick Willman
Hi folks! Even though it is the middle of summer and fishing is usually less productive, this year seems to be bucking the system. Indian River and Rehoboth Bay just continue to produce fish.
Plenty of flounder are roaming the floor of the bay, and they are munching on minnows, squid, shiners and good ole Gulp!. You may have a really tough time finding a flattie that will measure the 18.5-inches it needs to be, but it sure is fun putting a bend in that rod. Please remember to be very careful releasing the throwbacks so someone else can enjoy them another day.
Croakers are another fish that can provide a day full of fun on the water. Number 6 or number 8 long shank hooks tipped with a piece of bloodworm, FishBites, or a small piece of Gulp! will trick these feisty critters. The Rehoboth Bay has been giving up a fair amount of blowfish. Massey’s Ditch is still giving up a few flounder along with some bluefish, stripers and tog. The Indian River Inlet is holding some nice stripers that are feeding on the end of incoming tide. Bluefish are still showing up on the incoming tide, and there are some real nice flatties roaming the floor.
Here are some of the recent catches: Lisa Koshinskie of Coal Township, PA fished on the “Aquaholic” with Bill Koshinskie at the helm to score a citation flattie that tipped the scales at 12 lbs. 11 oz. Way to go Lisa! Steve Bishop fished Massey’s Landing and took home a 12 lb. 3 oz. striper. Wendy Marker fished Massey’s to score a 22-¼ inch and a 21-inch flattie using minnows and FishBites. Randy Micklus fished the Indian River Inlet with Joe Lombardo and boated a nice 6 lb. 3 oz. flattie using live spot. Captain Chuck Cook of “First Light Charters” took out Will Hollier and his friend Kevin on a night trip and caught several stripers at the wall using Mirrolures and rigged Berkley eels. Mike Barrett and his two sons fished the Indian River Inlet and caught a boatload of fish using light tackle gear on an evening charter with “First Light”. Craig Kerschner took both his father and his son wreck fishing for flounder and caught 12 flounder with a few keepers in the mix.
At Rattle & Reel Sporting Center on Long Neck Road, Eric informed us that croakers are plentiful at Buoy #20 and #21 in the Indian River Bay. Spot are being caught at Massey’s Landing. The Indian River Inlet is giving up flounder, but most are short. The best bait for flounder is still the Berkley Gulp!, shiners, or squid.
Bert at Hook’em and Cook’em Bait and Tackle told us that there are plenty of flounder in the Indian River Inlet, but most won’t reach the 18.5-inch mark on the ruler. Mike Esham and his father did limit out on the flatties weighing up to 8.8 lbs. using live spot. Croaker action has slowed just off the beach, as has the bluefish activity. A few tog are being taken in the Inlet, but not many. Stripers in the Inlet are falling for live spot or bucktails. Along the Buoy Line and the Old Grounds, sea bass and flounder activity has picked up a bit. Offshore fishermen have had a blast trolling up dolphin, but the tuna action has been slow recently. Some yellowfin were trolled up at the Elephant Trunk. The Lindenkohl Canyon has given up more yellowfin, and plenty of white marlin. Guys targeting sharks at night from the beaches are doing quite well.
From Bill’s Sport Shop in Lewes we got word that Frank, Frank Jr., Ed and Mike Bailor and Don Welsh went out on the "Marlin Magic" and caught 14 dolphin ranging from 27- to
44-inches on ballyhoo in the Washington Canyon. According to Bobby at the Pier, spot and croaker are being caught in good numbers on bloodworms and FishBites. He also said people are catching slot stripers and flounder. The Indian River Inlet is producing plenty of short flounder tossing minnows, Gulp! and shiners.
Surf fishermen report sharks and skates hitting the beach and biting on fresh mullet and fresh bunker. Some kingfish also are being caught in the mix on FishBites bloodworms and real bloodworms. Nick Wiest of Philadelphia, PA boated a citation 8.61 lb. flounder drifting the Indian River Inlet using chartreuse Gulp!.
Capt. Joe Morris at Lewes Harbour Marina said more nice flounder were checked in over the weekend. Gulp! artificials have proven to be the hot lick for big fluke. Joe Walker, Jr. was using a Gulp! at Site 10 on Saturday when he connected with a brace of doormats weighing 8.68 and 5.25 lbs. Aidan Grube drifted a bucktail and Gulp! combo at Site 8 on Saturday, and he hooked an 8.46 lb. trophy. Tony Vansant and crew worked Reef Site 10 on Tuesday for 10 quality keepers, including Larry Pleasenton’s 7.49 pounder. The “Lil’ Angler” brought back 10 flatties last Sunday, and 8 on Tuesday. Captain Carey on the “Grizzly” said Scott Karr’s group kept 11 flounder last Sunday. Carey caught a 5.5 pounder himself on Tuesday, and mentioned that he saw a school of large spadefish at the Brown Shoal reefs. Captain Pete Haines and Bob Witte combined for 7 plump keeper fluke while rubble bouncing aboard the “Top Fin” on Wednesday. Captain Ted’s guys on the “Indian” returned with 5 chunky flatties on Saturday. Those fish took strip baits on spinner hooks. Kyle and Bill Lux scored a pair of good-sized flatfish on Friday while casting Gulp! at the Inner Wall.
Croakers continued to cooperate for bottom fishermen on reef sites 5 and 8. The best bites have occurred during evening tides. Clams, bloodworms and FishBites were favored baits. Blowfish, kingfish, spot and snapper blues were mixed in. Spot were also plentiful in the Lewes Canal. Pieces of bloodworms or FishBites on small hooks or sabiki rigs did the trick on the tasty panfish. The Canal also held slot size stripers, which were caught by guys fishing clams on bottom rigs near the drawbridge. Triggerfish have been frequenting rocks of the Outer Wall and Ice Breakers. Clams and sandfleas will tempt triggers. Captain Brent Wiest hosted a group from Harrisburg, PA for the inaugural trip aboard his new boat, “Katy Did”. They returned from an ocean wreck with 22 triggerfish, plus a pile of bluefish, and a 4 lb. flounder. Inshore trollers hooked snapper blues and Spanish mackerel while towing small spoons on Fenwick Shoal.
Boats trolling between 30 and 40 fathoms found dolphin and a few tuna. Pulling lures in pretty water east of the Elephant Trunk resulted in several nice mahi and a 45 lb. yellowfin for Andy and Chuck Shelton, John Leavitt and Jim Riley on Saturday. Anna Delapo decked a 19.4 lb. dolphin in 40 fathoms on Saturday aboard the “Spoiled III”. Jake Kaplan caught his first dolphin, a 13.3 pounder, in the Baltimore Canyon on the “Sweet Sharon”. Bill Swords and his buddies had an awesome trip to the Baltimore Canyon on Saturday. They bailed 49 dolphin in the morning, and then set up for some deep dropping, which resulted in 13 golden tilefish to 25 lbs. They capped off the excursion with a 100 lb. mako.
‘Til next week, have fun and be safe!
Rick and his wife Deb are owners of Rick’s Bait & Tackle in Long Neck, DE.
